Arthurian Fiction in Medieval Europe: Narratives and Manuscripts

The Arthurian Fiction database was compiled in the course of the project Arthurian Fiction: A Pan-European Approach under the supervision of Bart Besamusca at Utrecht University between 2004 and 2008. The research, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), was carried out by Cora Dietl, Martine Meuwese, Jessica Quinlan and Sacha Voogd. In 2011-2012, the web research tool was developed by the Huygens Institute for the History of The Netherlands (Huygens ING) with the aid of funding from Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN).

This research tool provides information on medieval Arthurian narratives and the manuscripts in which they are transmitted throughout Europe. The database consists of linked records on over two hundred texts, more than thousand manuscripts and two hundred persons. Texts which belong to the pseudo-historical tradition of Geoffrey of Monmouth and printed books are not included.

The database is work in progress: a considerable number of records have yet to be completed, while fresh discoveries of narratives and manuscripts invite new entries. The compilers of the database hope that this tool will contribute to further research into Arthurian fiction as a pan-European phenomenon.